Another Day
by Aldrian Kyrrith
Summary: One shot. Following an alternate version of Best of Both Worlds, Riker observes the Borg assimilation of Earth.


1Another Day

By Squirrelfang

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Star Trek, which belongs to Paramount.

Captain William Riker stared at the Main Viewer, the disbelief clear on his face. In front of him lay a Class M world: Earth. Above it hovered the Borg Cube, commanded by a Borg known as Locutus. When looking at the Borg Leader visage, he could not help but think of his old friend and captain. However, Locutus was a perversion of his old friend. Picard was dead and the idealistic hopes which he was clinging to would do nothing to bring the man back. Things had gone so quickly, and even now, it all seemed like a dream. It should be a dream; the kind he would tell Counselor Troi about upon his awakening. However, this was real and his wishes would not make things otherwise. For the first time in his life, he found himself wishing that he had taken Q up on his offer long ago to join the Continuum. Then maybe he could have done something about this nightmare that was unfolding before his very eyes.

The Borg Vessel orbiting around Earth was one of frightening, almost invincible capabilities. It had single handedly brought down one of the Alpha Quadrant strongest and most resilient species. Even worse, humanity would be just the first of many cultures to receive this fate. As it assimilated Earth population, along with its technology and records, Riker knew it was only a matter of time before the Quadrant other civilizations became targets. The Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, and countless other species: it was only a matter of time before the Borg turned their attention to them.

He watched with horror as the Borg Cube locked its tractor beams upon various parts of Earth developed surfaces and beamed up chunks of civilization into the vacuum of space. Then, using their sensors, they analyzed the human made and engineered relics, downloading the information and restructuring the physical matter. He kept watching, completely disgusted by what he saw, wishing to look away but physically incapable of such action.

In the bottom of his heart, he desired to charge at the Borg ship. He wanted to destroy it so that it could stop this perversion of his home planet. But he knew that such action was a dream. The strength of the Federation had already proven inferior to that of the Borg and to attempt such an attack amounted to suicide and nothing else.

And so he could only watch. He found his eyes glued to the Viewer, as humanity entire civilization was gathered, broken down and transformed into new Borg cubes. He could only watch as its population was gathered and transformed into drones. He could only watch as everything he had ever known was destroyed and there was nothing he could do to a stop it.

Perhaps he was one of the lucky ones. He was alive with his individuality and his freedom intact. Then again, perhaps the only ones whom fortune favored were the ones already dead. However, in the seconds that it took him to contemplate the horrors that unveiled themselves before his very eyes, he came to a conclusion which, though he did not like and could not accept, he, nevertheless, was obliged to honor it.

Despite the attack and the subsequent assimilation, there were and would be survivors. There were also the countless other races who were in danger of being the Borg next target. He had an obligation to them, his crew and his ship to survive this moment and lead the war against the Borg in the future.

Even though the battle for Earth had ended, there were still other battles to be fought. As he realized this, he suddenly found within himself a new determination to fight on, even if he had to die in the front lines. In the deepest core of his unconscious thought, there existed a desire for this fate. It presented a way to finally wake up from this nightmare.

He turned his eyes one last time on the world he had been born on. He had once expected to die on it. These previous expectations rang in his mind as fantasy: thoughts which should never be considered by the rational mind. However, he did ruminate on them briefly. A slight trace of hope remained in his outlook. If he could succeed in retaining this quality despite all he had lost, Riker realized, then he could surely succeed in almost anything.

After all, look at Guinan and the El Aurians. They had faced the Borg and, though they were dispersed across the galaxy, they still survived. The same was true of humans. The Borg came and destroyed their civilization, but humanity itself still existed. It was for this that he must fight. Not for himself, not for his duty, not for Starfleet but for humanity itself. Just like the Federation , the Borg reign would one day come to an end. To that note, he would do everything within his power to make sure that, when that day came, humans would still be alive to see it.

elm, he spoke in a clear and determined tone of voice possessed of strength much of his crew found inexplicable considering the circumstances, et us out of here. Maximum warp.

And as he watched his planet and its conquerors disappear in the distance, he made a promise to himself. He would return someday, to see his homeworld restored and its conquerors overthrown. He would see the day that the Borg were finally brought to an end or he would die in the struggle to attain it.


End file.
